the first week of May for the tenth consecutive year.

Visitors from almost 30 different countries including the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Holland, Japan and several offshore jurisdictions have signed up for the Globalisation of Mutual Funds seminar at the Southampton Princess.

International Bar Association mutual fund committee chairman Peter Rodger said 475 delegates would attend this year and there was also a waiting list of hopeful attendees from around the world.

Mr. Rodger, the Bank of Butterfield's group legal advisor, said competition between the major offshore fund domiciles was fierce.

"Attendance at conferences like this is a major part of networking and business development.

"Bermuda is fielding 41 delegates while Dublin is sending 22 and Luxembourg 17, Cayman, the BVI, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Hong Kong and Mauritius have smaller representations.'' He said the keynote speaker for the seminar was The Vanguard Group's senior chairman Jack Bogle who he described as a "legend in the mutual fund industry''.

Panels on the Year 2000 problem, marketing and distribution in South America, international tax developments, how and where to form a fund, developments in Japan and the Internet were also planned, he said.

"For the tenth anniversary of the seminar we have introduced a new item early on the second morning, a series of breakfast groups to informally discuss issues in the global mutual fund industry.'' AIG PROFITS RISE BUC AIG profits rise International insurance giant American International Group Inc. yesterday said first-quarter operating profits rose more than 21 percent to $1.18 billion, fuelled by strength in all it key businesses.

Operating income, which excludes realised capital gains, was 94 cents a share compared with Wall Street's consensus of 93 cents a share and 78 cents in the year-ago quarter.